All posts tagged toymakers

Toy makers have some good news to counter concerns about holiday sales in the U.S.: International consumers.

The two largest toy makers — Hasbro and Mattel — in recent days have posted positive sales surprises in their third-quarters, showing that sales in international markets are growing fast enough to pick up slack demand out of the U.S.

Hasbro today said U.S. sales were down 5%, while international sales grew 11%, thanks to brand-hungry consumers in Latin America, Russia and Turkey. Mattel last week said international were up 9%, compared with a rise of 3% in North America.

“The two toughest areas around the world I’d say from a consumer sentiment continue to be Australia and the U.S.,” Hasbro Chief Executive Brian Goldner said on Monday’s conference call to discuss a 17% jump in profit. “We’re seeing enthusiasm in Latin America and major areas of Europe particularly in Russia and Turkey.”

Danish toy giant Lego on Tuesday batted down the idea that it is pulling its Jabba’s Palace kit — based on a scene from Star Wars Episode VI — from store shelves as a result of pressure from an organization concerned about discrimination against Muslims and other groups.

Lego, which is gobbling up market share in the global market for playthings, said the move to take down the product is purely related to its rigid product cycles.

Earlier this year, the company came under fire from the Austria Turkish Cultural Community, which said the set appeared to copy the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul. It also complained to Lego for selling figurines participating in belly dancing, hookah smoking and other activities that “defamed” people living in Asia and the Middle East.

On its website Tuesday, the Austria Turkish Cultural Community said in a German press release that it was pleased to have played a role in Lego’s decision to cease sale of the Jabba set at the end of this year.

Lego spokesman Roar Rude Trangbaek said the company did indeed meet with the organization in March, but only to explain the way that toys are made. Once a deal is struck with a partner – in this case Lucasfilm Ltd. – company designers spend months in the workshop working on countless building-block configurations in order to get a close facsimile of the real thing.

Lego invests big bucks in the development process to “allow both young and old Star Wars fans act out the scenes from the movies at home,” the company said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Jabba’s palace does not reflect any non-fiction buildings, people or the mentioned mosque.”

The figurines in the box, which has its own wiki, are movie characters such as Salacious Crumb, Bib Fortuna, Oola, Hans Solo, Chewbacca and Princess Leia, who is disguised as Boushh. Lego “regrets that the product has caused the members of the Turkish cultural community to interpret it wrongly,” according to its statement.

Lego said it was planning all along to discontinue the set at the end of this year as Star Wars kits “usually have a life-cycle of one to three years.” The company reserves the right to revive a kit in the future or rework the set under a new version. This version was released in mid-2012, while another, released ten years ago, looked completely different.

Mr. Trangbaek said Lego avoids replicating any type of religious building, focusing instead on popular storylines ranging from its own creations to Hollywood blockbusters like Toy Story. It has recently been in talks with 20th Century Fox about making a set based on “The Simpsons”.

Of course, given the creative nature of Lego’s building sets, it is impossible for the Danish company to control what people do once they purchase scores of little plastic blocks.

At Easter, for instance, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke tweeted a photo of a Lego version of the new pontiff, Pope Francis, standing on the balcony of St. Peter’s in Rome the day he was elected (the event is typically known as Habemus Papam). The photo originated on the Shower of Roses blog in the U.S.

Mr. Burke’s tweet, sent on March 29, read “Habemus Lego” followed by a link to where the photo could be found. Read More »